Anybody know of a decent bookshop/ market stall etc in ...

[dem bones]

Anybody know of a decent second hand bookshop/ market stall etc in Bournemouth?

[the paperback fanatic]

Dem, work used to take me to Bournemouth a few years back and there was a really good shop in Wimborne. But I'm sure I saw an article recently about its closure.  It did cite 8 charity shops in the area as being one of the reasons, so you might strike lucky.  But I doubt it!

[dem bones]

Thanks Justin, and Sev, and Mr. Hack for your suggestions. Place sounds like Romford with a beach, so perhaps a mercy am only there for a few hours next weekend. Will report back should I strike it lucky!

[dem bones]

Thanks to Severance for putting me onto this amazing ramshackle book/ magazine/ DVD emporium at 11 Queens Road, Westbourne. It's like a jungle in there and you will need the proprietor to explain his unique filing system to make sense of it. The books are piled three/ four deep and shop policy is drag out the piles that interest you onto the dead man's carpet, sort through 'em and replace. I had less than an hour and a tenner at my disposal but still came away with decent copies of Guy N. Smith's Cannibals, Stephen Jones & David A. Sutton's Best Horror From Fantasy Tales, and, just in time for Valentine's day, the Nancy A. Collins edited Dark Love: 22 All-Original Tales of Lust & Obsession featuring stories by, among others, Ramsey Campbell, Robert Weinberg, Richard Laymon's The Maiden and an extraordinarily kinky offering from Karl E. Wagner. Still recovering from stage one of 2016 world tour - "normal" service will be resumed asap.

[severance]

That's pretty much how I remember it from twenty years ago - good to see that some things don't change.

[Mike Brough]

That looks like paradise.  I can imagine spending all morning in there, heading round the corner for a pie and a pint for lunch, and then back in agasin for the afternoon - maybe with a loo-break following that pint.

[dem bones]

Feb 3, 2016 16:39:17 GMT severance said:

That's pretty much how I remember it from twenty years ago - good to see that some things don't change.

It's still run by one of the same Irish guys you mentioned - been there 35 years. He's retired now, hence the shop opening for just the three days a week. Real nice bloke, too. Am planning a return visit in the Spring.

[the paperback fanatic]

I think I recognise that shop and that it may have been around for nearer 40 years if it's the one I remember from my youth.  We used to go on a yearly holiday in a caravan park at a place called Rockley Sands which was between Poole and Bournemouth.  It was a comics shop at the time, probably one of the few outside a major city, and I remember it had lots of underground comix as well as the Marvel stuff.  We stumbled across it whilst out on a walk, presumably on a nearby beach?  I was about 10 and knew about underground comix and specifically Robert Crumb due to getting an art book called Masters of Comic Book Art that Xmas.  Despite it costing 65 pence, versus 2000AD costing about 8p at the time, my dad bought me a copy of Robert Crumb's Best Buy Comix.  I think it's considered lesser Crumb, but the strips of anthromorphic bears and dogs going through mid-life crisis (reflecting Crumb's mentality due to a load of tax hassles he was going through if I remember) made a huge impression on me and I spent hours copying them out.  Thanks for the nostalgia Dem!

[dem bones]

Feb 4, 2016 15:16:52 GMT the paperback fanatic said:

I think I recognise that shop and that it may have been around for nearer 40 years if it's the one I remember from my youth.  We used to go on a yearly holiday in a caravan park at a place called Rockley Sands which was between Poole and Bournemouth.  It was a comics shop at the time, probably one of the few outside a major city, and I remember it had lots of underground comix as well as the Marvel stuff.  We stumbled across it whilst out on a walk, presumably on a nearby beach?  I was about 10 and knew about underground comix and specifically Robert Crumb due to getting an art book called Masters of Comic Book Art that Xmas.  Despite it costing 65 pence, versus 2000AD costing about 8p at the time, my dad bought me a copy of Robert Crumb's Best Buy Comix.  I think it's considered lesser Crumb, but the strips of anthromorphic bears and dogs going through mid-life crisis (reflecting Crumb's mentality due to a load of tax hassles he was going through if I remember) made a huge impression on me and I spent hours copying them out.  Thanks for the nostalgia Dem!

If/ when I get back down there, will likely rough it for a weekend so I can take in the market at Poole. The shop on Queens Road is a real throwback, reminds me of the glorious tips once prevalent in London which fast disappeared in the 'nineties. Not sure if I noticed any comics, but there was an issue of Tit-Bits from the 'fifties. If you're planning a visit, be warned, it opens three days a week; Thursday-Saturday, 11.30 - 17.00.

[ben]

Wow that shops a blast from the past. I had a few venue hassel books from there about 12 years ago. Awesome little gem. God only knows how he stays open.

[dem bones]

If all goes to plan, hope to pay a return visit to the palace of chaos that is Comics & Books in Queens Road tomorrow prior to football hi-jinks. Detour to Poole market might not be possible as likely to be pressed for time unless match falls victim to weather.

[dem bones]

Photo: Alan Raymond Palmer

The shop still looks to be thriving, but sadly, a hectic schedule meant zero opportunity to squeeze in a visit, the only downer on an otherwise brilliant, manic, slightly surreal day out at the coast. Many thanks to the Wealdstone fans for (a) making me feel welcome (b) getting me back to the town centre after my superb inner sat-nav threatened to send me on a walking tour of ... God knows, the Peak District, I shouldn't wonder. [Warning; what follows is a 'match report'. Look away now if you don't want to know the score, hate football, or have suffered any of my previous efforts.]

Have been to some ropey grounds in my time but Poole's one-toilet stadium makes Earlsmorgue look like the San Siro. Two saving graces, hospitable fans (how they must relish away days) and £2.80 a pint in the social club, half what we poor bastards are expected to pay in London. First half goalless, attritional stuff, few chances, away fans slowly sinking in the mud behind at the uncovered end. Many of us were still taking advantage of the cheap beer situation when Poole sneaked a jammy offside goal approximately 4.8 seconds into the second half. The fog drifted in. The Stones fans cranked up the noise. The shelter that serves as a stand is rudimentary as they come, but it too has its redeeming feature - the corrugated iron sheeting at back. Stones responded well, kept plugging away but a combination of poor finishing and inspired goalkeeping (their net-minder, Nick Hutchings, was man of the match by a distance) suggest they'll go away with nothing. As a last throw of the dice, under pressure manager Gordon Bartlett sends on 300 year old goal-machine Scotty McGleish for the last fifteen minutes. It's a crazy stunt to pull, but it might just work! The game enters five minutes injury time with the home side still leading. Drama! Sam Cox sends a sizzling pile driver netwards only for their spoilsport goalie to pull off a miracle save and deflect it onto the bar. The Stones came again. A corner causes mayhem (and loads of superb fouling) in the Poole area, ball falls to fans' whipping boy Omar Koroma who gleefully prods home to send 200 + travelling supporters absolutely gaga with delight!

What a marvellous day out, and the beach is so beautiful this time of the year.

[Swampirella]

Feb 3, 2016 18:48:55 GMT Mike Brough said:

That looks like paradise.  I can imagine spending all morning in there, heading round the corner for a pie and a pint for lunch, and then back in agasin for the afternoon - maybe with a loo-break following that pint.

I'd spend all day there and order in!

[dem bones]

Squeezed in another fleeting visit to Comics & Books in Westbourne on May 25th. Forty years old and still hanging on grimly. It now opens Thursday, Friday & Saturday only, and is possibly even more cobwebbed and ramshackle than before (if you are lucky, you may even come under attack from a wasp). Impossible to do the place any sort of justice in half an hour, but was pleased to come away with seriously preloved copies of The Man In Black: Macabre Stories From Fear On Four (BBC Books, 1990), Kenneth Rayner Johnson's The Succubus, and 1972 edition of Panther's The Newgate Calendar Vol 3.

[dem bones]

Each visit to Comixs, Books & DVDs at 11 Queens Rd, Westbourne has been an adventure, Saturday's perhaps the most enjoyable to date. The shop (est. 1983) is ... a beautiful chaos. Nearest comparison I can think of is the wonderful Hurlingham's, Putney ... if a hurricane hit it. Pushed for time, you'd best ask friendly proprietor Gerry where so and so section is, otherwise you'll never find it. Prices very reasonable - above haul worked out around £2.50 a book.